By Krystal Tabin

Limp, just hanging there, like an empty suit of skin. All the bones seemed to have just disintegrated into dust. Ashlee, horrified, stood at the doorway to the small bathroom with tears running down her cheeks. The once handsome and strong body of her father now gently rocked back and forth in front of her. A exotic yellow snake twisted from his neck up to the curtain rod. There was a soft thud each time the heavy feet hit the side of the tub. The strong smell of urine flooded the room, from the puddle beneath the body. His dark suit like a shadow against the clean white of the washroom. Ashlee’s knees shuddered and gave out beneath her, leaving her a sobbing pile on the floor.

“Ashlee? Ashlee?” called a voice from the forgotten cell phone on the floor, followed by beeping dial tone.

Two mute figures sat alone on the oversized, dark brown couch in the living room. They were watched by the unseeing eyes of the African masks hanging from the walls. The dim lighting of the room casted shadows off the masks, making the room seem more frightening than normal. Neither person looked up at the other, but their hands were clasped tightly together.

The silence that surrounded them, affected even the strangers in the house. Tall men in dark blue uniforms, walking back and forth from the washroom. Some carried grey boxes, much like tool boxes, others had cameras. The men would walk into the washroom, emerge a few minutes later, whisper something to one of the two men in pin-strip suits, then return to the washroom. The suited men simply stood in the hall whispering to each other, occasionally jotting a note in the small black notebooks they each had.

“Do you expect any foul play?” the younger man asked. He looked almost hopeful.

“Don’t seem so happy. These are human lives we are dealing with,” the older man scowled.

“Right, sorry.”

“Besides, it just doesn’t seem to fit, but I’m not ruling anything out yet,” the other man glanced over his shoulder at the two women sitting in the living room. “I’ll go talk to the family. Perhaps they will provide answers. Check the house for any proof of suicide.”

“Suicide note, right,” the younger man muttered, disappearing into a nearby door leading into the master bedroom.

The older man walked into the living room, slowly. He took his time, silently running through questions he could ask. He coughed gently so that the women would notice him approaching, after all the women were already quite upset. There was no reason to startle them.

“Mrs. Mersey? I’m Detective Botrell. I’m sorry about your loss,” he said, offering his hand.

“Maria, please,” Maria said, letting go of her daughter’s hand to shake the detective’s.

“I just need to ask you a few questions about your husband,” said the detective, taking a seat in the arm chair across from the women. He set his notebook down on the end table next to him.

“Alright,” Maria said, her voice shaking a little. She glanced over at Ashlee and squeezed her hand.

“Do you know of any possible enemies your husband might have had?” the detective asked.

“What? You don’t think he was murdered, was he?” Maria asked in a sudden panic.

“No. From what we can tell right now, this appears to be suicide, but we haven’t ruled out anything yet. And it’s always good to know anything that may have been a contributing factor,” the detective quickly reassured her.

“Oh, no, not any I can think of,” Maria said.

“Do you have any idea what might have motivated your husband to,” he paused, glancing slightly nervously between Maria and Ashlee.

“Yes,” Maria muttered, a tear slowly rolled down her cheek.

“Here,” Maria had said that morning, after Ashlee had left for school, and had thrown a packet of papers in front of George.

“Maria, please, don’t do this,” George had answered, glaring down at the papers.

“George, we both know this isn’t working. I’m done fighting. I plan to leave as soon as I can. I have a house waiting for Ashlee and I in Toronto. Please sign the papers, we both can’t afford to take this to court,” Maria said.

George grabbed his coffee mug and threw it against the wall. He grabbed the divorce papers and stormed out of the room.

“See you in court,” he had yelled from the car, as he drove off.

“This morning I gave him the divorce papers,” she continued, watching Ashlee’s face. They never had a chance to tell her about the divorce, they kept waiting for the right moment that never came.

Ashlee closed her eyes. She knew if she kept them open, she would cry again. How could they, Ashlee thought, I would have lost him either way. Ashlee wanted to escape to her room, but she knew that some of the men where in there. She kept her eyes closed tightly, trying to separate herself from all that was going on around her.

The detective nodded, “Thank you, Mrs. Mersey. Do you have family nearby you can stay with?”

“Yes, my sister,” Maria said, wiping her redden eyes with the back of her hand.

“Can I get the phone number there in case we need to contact you?” the detective asked.

“Sure,” Maria said. Detective Botrell held out a piece of paper and a pen. Maria wrote down the phone number and gave it to him.

“Alright, here is my card. We’ll be in touch soon,” the detective said quietly, shaking her hand again.

“Oh, and is this your’s, young lady?” the detective asked, holding out a cell phone to Ashlee.

“Thank you,” Ashlee whispered, taking her phone.

The detective walked back toward the washroom.

“Ashlee, why don’t you go get a few things from your room?” Maria said gently.

Ashlee got up and walked towards her room. She stopped a few steps away from two doors, both open wide. She could hear voices coming from the bathroom. Across from the bathroom, her bedroom. She stumbled back to the living room and sat down next to her mother. Maria pulled her daughter close to her. For a long time they sat there, in each other’s arms, and cried.

Then, breaking the silence, the doorbell rang. Maria slowly got up and looked through the peephole.

“Honey, it’s Alec. Do you want to talk to him?” Maria asked, studying her daughter’s tear-soaked face.

Ashlee nodded slowly and walked to the door. Giving her mother a hug, she opened the door.

“I’ll go pack your things for you,” Maria said, closing the door.

She stood with her back against the door, just looking at Alec. His handsome face distressed.

“Are you alright? What happened? Come sit down,” Alec blurted, taking her hand and leading her to sit down on the stairs. As Ashlee sat down, she stared up at the blinking ceiling lights of the dark stairwell.

Alec wrapped his arm around her shoulders and Ashlee buried her face in his chest. She breathed in deep, smelling the familiar and comforting scent of her boyfriend. He gently kissed the top of her head.

The door creaked open and the two detectives followed by their uniformed men walked down the stairs, past the couple. Alec waiting, as he listened to the thudding footsteps on the metal stairs. Once the footsteps disappeared, Alec sighed slowly.

“What happened?” Alec whispered.

“It’s Dad. He…” Ashlee couldn’t get the words out. She just squeezed herself closer to Alec.

“Hush now, it’s alright, I’m here for you,” Alec said, rubbing her back. “Let it out.”

“He hated me. He must have,” Ashlee said, muffled slightly by Alec’s sweater. She looked up into Alec’s eyes. Her eyes seemed to plead for answers. “How else could he have done this to me?”

“No, Ashlee, don’t ever say that. He loved you with all his heart,” Alec said, shocked.

“Then why,” Ashlee cried.

“I don’t know,” Alex said, “I don’t know.”

Ashlee weaved her way through the suburban house of her aunt. She slowly made her way through the sea of people in stiff black clothing, every once and awhile pausing to accept someone’s sympathies on her father’s death. Ashlee made her way into the kitchen and escaped into the backyard garden.

Sitting alone in the garden was Alec. Ashlee sighed and sat down next to him.

“How are you holding up?” he asked.

“Alright,” Ashlee said.

They sat there for a few minutes in awkward silence. Both unsure of what to say.

“We are moving soon,” Ashlee said slowly, unable to continue in silence any longer.

“Your mother told me. Toronto’s a nice city. You’ll love it there,” Alec said.

“I’m going to miss you.”

“So will I, but I will be joining you there soon. I got into Ryerson.”

Ashlee smiled a little, hugging him. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Alec said. “Come on, I know it’s tough, but you have to get back in there. There are lots of people who want to offer their condolences.”

Ashlee nodded and the two made their way back into the house, hand in hand.

“Ashlee, honey, I just got a call from the office. They need me to go in. Can you go back to the condo and clean out the storage room? I’ll pick you up there at three,” said Maria’s voice over the message machine. Ashlee groaned, grabbing the key from it’s hook and calling a taxi.

When the taxi reached the condo, Ashlee stood at the door for a minute, scared to go in. This was only the second time she’d been back since her father’s death. She glanced up at the small fifth-floor window. She knew it was the bathroom window of their old condo. She gathered her strength and pushed open the heavy glass door.

She headed down the stairs to the basement. In the long corridor of storage rooms, she ran into Mrs. Ryan, an elderly lady from one of the ground floor condos.

“Oh Ashlee, darling. How are you doing?” she asked in a sympathetic tone that Ashlee was sick of getting from everyone.

“I’m surviving, Mrs. Ryan,” Ashlee answered, unlocking the door of their storage room.

“It’s going to be sad to see you go. You have been such a great help. You’re such a nice girl,” Mrs. Ryan said, gently squeezing Ashlee’s arm, in an attempt to be comforting.

“Thank you, Mrs. Ryan,” she said, escaping into the storage room before the elderly woman could make any further attempts at sympathy.

Turning on the light, Ashlee sighed as she looked over the boxes. There were so many things here. Ashlee began digging through the boxes, trying to sort through all of the clothes, holiday decorations, discarded toys, and other odds and ends. Near the back of the storage room, Ashlee discovered a large wooden chest she had never seen before. She dragged the chest into the middle of the room and heaved open it’s heavy lid.

Inside the chest were many different items, all familiar things of her childhood. On top of the pile of neatly arranged things was an envelope. Ashlee opened the envelope slowly and found a letter from her father.

“I love you too, Daddy,” Ashlee said, a lone tear rolled down her cheek.

Ashlee set the letter to one side and looked through the rest of the items in the chest. The chest was a time capsule of her life, full of memories of things her and her father had shared together. As she looked through the chest, Ashlee realized that no one would ever love her more than her father had and that keeping her love for him alive in her heart, her father’s soul would rest in peace.

end